Suspected thief lynched in Bihar

Patna, March 13 (IANS) In yet another case of mob rule, a suspected thief was lynched by a mob in a Bihar village, the police said Thursday. The man, in his 50s, was beaten to death in Methwalia village in Saran district late Wednesday night.

Angry villagers caught him when he was allegedly trying to flee after stealing a cow from the house of Jeetan Rai. Then the villagers lynched him.

“He was thrashed and his head was crushed with bricks and bamboo sticks,” the police said.

The victim has not been identified. The body has been sent for post mortem examination. The police have lodged a case of murder against unidentified villagers.

This incident has come as an embarrassment for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who claims to have brought ’sushasan’ or good governance to Bihar.

In the last two and a half months nearly a dozen case of lynching were reported across the state.

In rural Bihar, ‘mob justice’ is common. Last year, over three dozen lynching incidents were reported and many more may have gone unreported.

The worst lynching case was reported in September last year when 10 men from the underprivileged Kueri community were beaten to death in Vaishali district on suspicion that they were thieves. Later, a high-level probe found that the men were innocent.